


Familiar Matters

by screechfox



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Blood moon, Gen, Nano and Nilesy are KirinDave's familiars, Pooka!Nano, Púca | Pooka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 10:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4176999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screechfox/pseuds/screechfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nano’s learnt to recognise the familiar tug of a summoning spell from a mile off by now - it makes her tail twitch behind her and her ears prick up. So she can easily make excuses to Lalna about disappearing for a while.</p><p>--</p><p>Nano goes to see Kirin. Spells are cast and conflicts are had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Familiar Matters

**Author's Note:**

> This is at least partially Cad's fault, but I should probably stop saying that in front of fics otherwise a lot of my fics would be prefaced by that. Anyway, the idea for this came up months and months ago, and I've only just managed to turn it into a fic now.

Nano’s learnt to recognise the familiar tug of a summoning spell from a mile off by now - it makes her tail twitch behind her and her ears prick up. So she can easily make excuses to Lalna about disappearing for a while.

Patting him on the back as she passes the dinosaur pens, Nano smiles at Lalna. “I’m going to go off and visit Lom’ and Nilesy for a little bit.” Before he can open his mouth to offer to come with her, one of their raptors comes bouncing over, sniffing at her leg curiously as Lalna chuckles, attempting to tempt it away with some spare mutton. “You have fun there, yeah? Try not to kill any of them.” She takes a final look at the Chocobo Ranch, before pushing up into the air and flying off in the direction of Lomadia and Nilesy’s base.

Once she can’t see Lalna anymore, she switches off her communicator and puts it in her pocket. Then Nano lets herself land, grasping for the third and final charm on the necklace around her neck. Not the moon charm, not the precious sapphire, just a small piece of antler carved into a red panda. It makes her smile to feel it, even if she’s always a little paranoid about scratching it.

Taking a deep breath, Nano pulls down her magical defenses for just a moment to let the tug pull her along uncomfortably; slamming them up again as soon as she feels herself connect with new ground beneath her.

Ow.

Groaning, she lies there for a moment. Nano realises she’s lucky it wasn’t a stone brick floor, but grass is a small blessing when you’ve just been pulled very far indeed.

There’s a chuckle from nearby, and if it was anyone other than who it is, then Nano would probably jump up and slap them. As it is, she just groans louder, attempting to convey exactly how displeased she is with this situation.

Of course, she can’t lie on the earth and chalk forever, and, after a few moments, in which amusement practically permeates the air, a large hand tugs her up without even the slightest chance of resistance. Finally opening her eyes, and her tail flicking behind her, Nano stares up at KirinDave in a mixture of indignancy and her own contentedness.

For a moment, his own face is the picture of benevolence (though she doesn’t really buy that for a second, even if she likes him) until he sniffs the air and wrinkles his nose. There’s an almost accusatory look on his face, and she grins on instinct.

“You stink of dog, Nano.” Kirin says it like it’s a bad thing, and Nano’s tail sways as she reaches up to finger the gold sheen of her moon charm. Maybe it’s a bad thing to him (and used to kind of be a bad thing to her, until she got used to it), but it’s no reason to be like that.

“What, and I need your permission to go performing old rituals on myself? And Lalna.” It’s a rhetorical question, but she says it teasingly, knowing that he probably won’t be mad at her for too long. Well, in theory, anyway. He’s never able to be mad at her for more than a little while before. “It’s just witchery stuff, nothing huge.”

“I think turning yourself - and Lalna,” Kirin adds, before she can interject, “into werewolves is something huge indeed.” His tone is mild, but he still reaches down to cup Nano’s hand with his own - to touch the golden crescent that she’s holding onto so protectively. “Please tell me you’re not worshipping the wolf god as well?

Nano giggles, slipping her hand out from under his and inspecting the black-blue corrosion on his fingertips. Dodging his question (though really, the giggles were answer enough), she prods him in the chest. “You need to get that sorted out, you know. I mean, hypocrisy here, but still.” She’s pretty sure her flux is less worrying than the decay of a human vessel. Maybe she’s not an expert, but you get a feel for these things.

Kirin rolls his eyes at her. “It’s under control, don’t you worry. And, yes, don’t dodge your own problem, Nano.” He catches one of her hands, holding it up to the sunlight and letting warm beams stream through the crystals that seem to have become her flesh. “You need to fix this, and soon.”

Pulling away from him, Nano’s ears flick in displeasure. “You could help with that, you know?” When Kirin just shakes his head, she scowls for a moment. “Don’t give me that no interference bollocks. You like me, and I’m betting it’s not good for Nilesy or you to have me like this.” She does worry about Nilesy occasionally, even though she’s just as reckless as him, if not more so.

Kirin just smiles at her, turning and walking over to his altar. Knowing she’s not going to get an answer, she relents for now, following and sitting down on top of it. The red cloth is soft underneath her, unlike the fabric she and Lalna have to compromise with, and she makes a soft purring sound as she settles on it, running her fingers over it repeatedly.

“Speaking of Nilesy, what’s he not doing here?” There is a distinct lack of the other pooka, and Nano is a little perplexed, frowning at Kirin as he rummages through one of his chests. “You generally summon both of us together, and he really livens up the place.”

Kirin pulls out a few things that Nano can’t make out - pocketing some of them and laying a few of them on the altar next to her. Then he sits down with her, batting her curious hands away from the objects as he talks.

“I needed steadier hands for this, and Nilesy doesn’t really qualify for that.” Distractingly, Kirin reaches up and begins scratching the back of her head softly. She tilts her head back into it, heedless of her intensifying purr. “Besides, don’t you think I summon Nilesy without you, sometimes? It’s good to spend some one-on-one time with your familiars.”

Nano laughs in the back of her throat. Shifting slightly so she can look at Kirin without losing the soft touch in her hair - ears twitching every so often when his fingers move somewhere else - she waggles her eyebrows. “Right, because that sentence can’t be misinterpreted at all.” She giggles more as she says it, unable to keep a straight face for the life of her.

Kirin’s composure breaks for a moment - he splutters and a blush comes to his cheeks so vibrantly that she just giggles even more. But then he just starts laughing along with her, grinning delightedly down at her. “I would never,” he says, and his tone would sound offended if it weren’t for their simultaneous giggling.

Eventually, of course, it dies down, as laughter has to. Nano slips off the altar and inspects what things Kirin has actually left out. They’re familiar components, and an inkling of suspicion bleeds into her mind for a moment. These all make a relatively simple spell, and there’s not even much work to be done. Nano eyes Kirin for a moment, wondering what exactly he has planned.

“You can’t honestly expect me to believe you pulled me across worlds to cast this?” Nano is at least a little bit indignant, but mostly just infuriated by the way Kirin’s default smile doesn’t change at her cry. “Come on, this is a beginner’s curse!

Kirin’s expression doesn’t change, but he raises his palms in a gesture that is usually helpless. “Maybe I have other plans, but you being here means this will be all the easier to cast while we’re waiting.”

Nano finds this answer exactly as satisfying as eating one noodle when you’re starving, but she knows that Kirin will never give her a straight answer, so she’ll just have to wait. Which is infuriating, but even the thought of giving him a right hook makes twinges of pain flicker in her head. Familiar bond, and all.

So instead she just resorts to glaring at him as hard as her ire can muster. Still, she takes the ingredients he passes to her, setting them down carefully on the golden glyph in the middle of his circle. The chalk is neat, and actually seems to glitter like real gold. Perks of being so powerful, Nano guesses.

When she gets a hold of the blood, she can practically smell the metallic tang, even though it’s sealed up tightly. Holding it up to the sunlight, which is slowly fading, Nano swills it around, trying to guess whose it is. Kirin isn’t the type to curse just anyone, she reckons, but she’s never really met any of his enemies.

But before she can even open her mouth to ask, Kirin has strolled over and is looming, gently pulling the vial out of her grasp and placing it in the center with everything else.

His robes gleam softly in the rays of light, as he squats down in the middle next to her. It’s ridiculous, she thinks. He’s practically on his knees and yet he’s still, somehow, taller than her. Nano’s hair puffs up slightly as she instinctively tries to make herself seem bigger, somehow. But Kirin just glances over at her, and moves one hand to run through her hair softly, as the other continues to arrange the ingredients optimally.

“Do you find me a threat, Nano?” His tone is curious, but Nano would be willing to bet that he already knows the answer she’d give if she spilt out emotions like a dam breaking. Of course, that’s not like her, but she reckons that, of anyone, Kirin’s creepy enough to know anyway.

Nano would pull herself away and prepare for the tug on her being that Kirin casting curses always was, but the hand in her hair always seems so nice, and Kirin seems to know exactly where it’s the best - which really says a lot about how old he is compared to her.

“I find a lot of things a threat,” she says, the words a truth but with a dry overtone. “It doesn’t mean I don’t like them.” Kirin chuckles softly, stroking her hair once more before motioning for her to step back. Doing so, Nano watches as he mutters some words under his breath. Then there’s an almost unpleasant tug on her magic - she hisses quietly - and the ingredients are gone.

Before she can wonder about what’s happening next, Kirin pulls the rest of his ingredients out of his robes and places them down with far less delicacy than the curse. Then he slams his palm down with a noise like thunder, turning his head to look at her with eyes that just seem wrong in the sudden red light.

Wait, red light?

The next thing she knows, she’s on her hands and knees, and panting, as Kirin kneels in front of her, the very picture of concern. The blood moon is high in the sky - Nano doesn’t need to look up to know this, she can feel it in her bones, the way her moon charm feels like it’s burning itself into her chest.

“Nano?” Kirin sounds almost hesitant. He reaches out to her, but she draws back, softly snarling under her breath. This is his fault, she can tell. His fault that human arms and legs now feel unwieldy, his fault that she’s so hungry now. Nano’s tail stands straight up, fur bristling, and he actually retracts his hand.

The blood moons aren’t this bad, normally. There’s Lalna there with her, another pack member, and they can talk to each other to get through the long night. But here, there’s only Kirin. And while some part of her recognises him as some form of leader, he isn’t pack, not really. Wolves are natural predators of deer, after all.

Nano scrabbles in the dirt for purchase as she grasps at the moon charm, throwing her head back and howling as she shifts. Kirin almost looks genuinely apologetic as he reaches out again, but she snarls. Any other night, she’d have happily let herself be petted like a household dog. But not tonight. Blue-black fingers retreat as she bares fangs.

Before he can try anything else - she can practically see the scheming under that innocent face - Nano runs. It’s a good thing that this circle is outside - it means that she can practically disappear from his sight instantly, running through the countless forests that surround his base. The tug of his next summoning spell is muted, and anyway - she’s not going to let him have her back just like that.

Nano doesn’t really know why she didn’t expect it in the first place. This was exactly Kirin’s style, even if she looked up to him, and their only interactions were under a familiar bond. But it still hurts, and she wants to rip something apart with her claws just to push that away. Maybe she will. Maybe she’ll kill one of his precious animals, even if she can’t hurt him.

The thought quickly fades, though, as she finds herself lost. With a mental sigh, Nano changes back. She’s almost bowled over by the way the tug of summoning intensifies at the change, but her defences are strong enough that she isn’t pulled away.

The moon is still calling to her, red light telling her that everything around her is prey to be hunted, that she needs to prove her strength. She ignores it, even as her body shakes with the effort, now she’s had a taste. Instead, she lets go of her own shift, feeling herself become the most natural form to her - or what feels it, anyway.

A softly dark-furred cat jumps up into the tree. The tug is even stronger in this form, but Nano has some faith that she’ll be able to keep it away. So she curls up in the branches. The moon isn’t as unbearable when she feels as at home in herself as she does in this form.

Eventually she falls to some semblance of sleep, not limited like she is when she’s more human.

The peace doesn’t last, though. When Nano wakes up, she’s in a lap. Specifically Kirin’s, she works out after a moment, smelling the electric heat that surrounds him. Maybe she shouldn’t have gone to sleep with a summoning spell on her. Still, Kirin hasn’t tried to turn her back, he’s just stroking her, and it’s okay enough that she resists the urge to bite his fingers.

The blood moon has gone. Nothing’s burning in the back of her mind and telling her to tear out the throats of all lesser beings. Which is nice. Nano’s not planning on asking why it stopped even though she can still see the moonlight shining down, or on asking how he even started it. She’s not going to forgive him, though.

She might be Kirin’s familiar, but that doesn’t mean he can mess her around like that.

He seems to realise that she’s awake after a while, and he pokes her softly. “Hey, rise and shine. I should get you back home.” There’s a tone to his words that makes her pause before she hisses, and Nano knows it’s the closest she’s going to get to an apology.

She tells herself she’s only accepting because she needs him to get her back home.

Nano makes a soft meowing noise before slipping off his lap and turning back into her usual self, crouched low to the ground. She doesn’t look at him, though - doesn’t need to see him to think that he’s probably smiling as always. “Just send me back to Lalna’s,” is all she says. Nilesy’s going to have some difficult questions for her that she’d rather not face right at this moment, and Lomadia will probably have just as many.

Nano will have to visit them somewhen in the next few days. But not now.

“Of course, Nano.” There really is a softness to his tone, more than the usual one that she knows to be amusement more than anything. Maybe he regrets it, maybe he doesn’t. Nano doesn’t really care, in all honestly - he still did it, didn’t he? Lalna regrets pushing her into the flux, but he still did it, and she’s still angry, even if it’s faded slowly.

A banishment is very different to the way a summoning feels. There’s not a tug, there’s a push, and Nano lets her defences down once more so that it can take her away, back home, to where Lalna will be waiting with a thousand indignant cries and cheeky grins on his lips.

There might be a familiar bond binding her to Kirin, she knows that well enough, and the power it can have over her. But she’s not going to give into every single bit of what he wants and just become a pet - even if that might be what he thinks of Nano and Nilesy as.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I might write more in this verse at some point (I have ideas for at least two other fics in it rattling around in my head) so let me know if you want to see them, and I'll do my best to get them out within a reasonable amount of time!
> 
> Also, sorry if the Kirin summoning a blood moon was a little weird. I figured it'd work better than just ~cheaty commands~.
> 
> You can find me at screechfoxes on Tumblr. Have a nice day!


End file.
